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Old 08-24-2017, 03:23 PM
 
4 posts, read 4,192 times
Reputation: 10

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Hello guys. Wife and I just bought our homes down in florence new build community. We just got our first bill which was around $280 for last month of usuage. The house is about 2691sq ft 1 story with radiant barrier and about 10.5 inch of insulation in attic. We got two AC units and We keep thr house around 81 degrees. Gas dryer, gas tankless water heater.

Anyways a salesman from lgcypower came out to promote sunrun solar panels.
If i lease them it will be $0 upfront $139/month with 2.9% annual increase. 38 panels of solar will produce about 103% of my usuage about 16,100kwh. I signed up just to get it grandfathered in for APS but i can always cancel this before they install the panels.

We havent lived here for long time so we do not know what our average bill will look like... should i still go with solar? Looks like lot of houses around me went solar...

Please give me some input. Thank you
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Old 08-24-2017, 05:01 PM
 
Location: Southern Arizona
9,593 posts, read 31,543,889 times
Reputation: 11708
For what it's worth, Dudmleh . . .

My Electric Bill literally DOUBLES for the months of June, July and August.

Since you have no idea what your "winter bills" will be, at this point it is extremely difficult to make an intelligent decision. Also, you will be obligated to pay that $139 per month regardless with no end in sight. Plus, most plans rarely address future maintenance, repairs and/or upgrades which are anything BUT inexpensive.

A few years ago I decided not to go Solar, however, a few of my neighbors bought the hype and, other than the prestige that goes with Solar Panels on their roof, they feel they were mislead and misinformed as to the actual long haul savings.

Good Luck and I hope this helps.
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Old 08-24-2017, 06:12 PM
 
63 posts, read 99,445 times
Reputation: 43
just my opinion but you might want to shop for a better deal than the one offered to you.
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Old 08-24-2017, 07:38 PM
 
Location: AZ
2,090 posts, read 3,785,923 times
Reputation: 3736
Quote:
Originally Posted by dudmleh522 View Post
Hello guys. Wife and I just bought our homes down in florence new build community. We just got our first bill which was around $280 for last month of usuage. The house is about 2691sq ft 1 story with radiant barrier and about 10.5 inch of insulation in attic. We got two AC units and We keep thr house around 81 degrees. Gas dryer, gas tankless water heater.

Anyways a salesman from lgcypower came out to promote sunrun solar panels.
If i lease them it will be $0 upfront $139/month with 2.9% annual increase. 38 panels of solar will produce about 103% of my usuage about 16,100kwh. I signed up just to get it grandfathered in for APS but i can always cancel this before they install the panels.

We havent lived here for long time so we do not know what our average bill will look like... should i still go with solar? Looks like lot of houses around me went solar...

Please give me some input. Thank you

I would get a few other quotes on this. First off without any history how can they tell you that you need 38 panels and your annual usage is going to be 16,100 Kwh? I know they're just guessing but the worst thing you can do is oversize your system. Are there any homes in your area similar to yours where you could get an idea of their usage? Granted everyone uses electricity different but this would at least give you a better reference from their bills.

Also,if you can purchase your system you'd be much better off than leasing. Most leases are for 20 years and with a 2.9% annual increase you're looking at almost a 60% increase in payments over 20 years. Besides that you won't get any of the tax credits. My system produces 100% offset and I use about half of what you're thinking you'll use. I bought mine outright and before the most recent APS increase my payback was about 7 years. If you're interested in getting another quote PM me and I can give you the info of who installed my system.
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Old 08-24-2017, 07:51 PM
 
4 posts, read 4,192 times
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I can tell you my first bill with APS with time asvantage super peak plan i got $280 and used about 2000kwh. I have talked to few neighbors and mostly 50/50. One couple went solar because their first two bills were close to $500 and their house is about 150-250sq fr bigger than mine (single story) their solar is not turned on because it just got installed so they couldnt tell me more about it. Theybare paying about $189 for solar

I also found out tAPs is changing all plans...

If i want solar i would need to call APs and change my plan to old standard plan and keep it like that for few months until i get solar installed which will cost me more monthly...
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Old 08-24-2017, 09:03 PM
 
Location: AZ
2,090 posts, read 3,785,923 times
Reputation: 3736
Quote:
Originally Posted by dudmleh522 View Post
I can tell you my first bill with APS with time asvantage super peak plan i got $280 and used about 2000kwh. I have talked to few neighbors and mostly 50/50. One couple went solar because their first two bills were close to $500 and their house is about 150-250sq fr bigger than mine (single story) their solar is not turned on because it just got installed so they couldnt tell me more about it. Theybare paying about $189 for solar

I also found out tAPs is changing all plans...

If i want solar i would need to call APs and change my plan to old standard plan and keep it like that for few months until i get solar installed which will cost me more monthly...

While it may cost you more for a few months it will pay off over the next 20 years. I just got my recent APS bill and it was $16.81. Remember too that we're on the downside of summer now and the next few month will only be getting cooler so your bills won't be as bad as if this were June going into summer.
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Old 08-24-2017, 09:18 PM
 
4 posts, read 4,192 times
Reputation: 10
Quote:
Originally Posted by Gixxer1K View Post
While it may cost you more for a few months it will pay off over the next 20 years. I just got my recent APS bill and it was $16.81. Remember too that we're on the downside of summer now and the next few month will only be getting cooler so your bills won't be as bad as if this were June going into summer.


So what your saying is it is worth it to go solar? The rates I got is reasonable?
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Old 08-24-2017, 09:29 PM
 
3,819 posts, read 11,887,407 times
Reputation: 2747
Dudmleh522, I own Sunsolar Solutions and can give you a quote if you'd like - I'll reach out over PM.

Regarding the quote form LGCY, you can definitely do better. As mentioned, there are options for finance as well which has its upsides and downsides.

For financing, basically all programs require you to take the solar tax credit and send it to the loan company within 16-18 months. So while you do get to take advantage of the tax credit (as long as you qualify - as in, as long as you pay an equal amount in income taxes), you have to apply it toward the loan. The loan payment are fixed for the term of the loan and of course when its paid off, its yours. When you purchase, you have more responsibility for the system and you will not be reimbursed if the system is down. There is a warranty, so the problem will get fixed, but you won't know there is a problem typically until you get a $300 APS bill.

The lease is easier to qualify for and someone else owns it, therefore has to monitor it and if it underproduces, you get reimbursed. But of course with a lease, you do not own it so there will always be a payment.

Let me know if you have any general questions and Ill be happy to answer them here, or through PM.
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Old 08-24-2017, 09:34 PM
 
3,819 posts, read 11,887,407 times
Reputation: 2747
Also heads up, if you do switch to a different company, you have to do it pretty quick. Your APS solar reservation, as well as the site plan and electrical diagrams have to be updated to APS by end of day August 31st.
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Old 08-25-2017, 09:43 AM
 
Location: AZ
2,090 posts, read 3,785,923 times
Reputation: 3736
Quote:
Originally Posted by HX_Guy View Post
Dudmleh522, I own Sunsolar Solutions and can give you a quote if you'd like - I'll reach out over PM.

Regarding the quote form LGCY, you can definitely do better. As mentioned, there are options for finance as well which has its upsides and downsides.

For financing, basically all programs require you to take the solar tax credit and send it to the loan company within 16-18 months. So while you do get to take advantage of the tax credit (as long as you qualify - as in, as long as you pay an equal amount in income taxes), you have to apply it toward the loan. The loan payment are fixed for the term of the loan and of course when its paid off, its yours. When you purchase, you have more responsibility for the system and you will not be reimbursed if the system is down. There is a warranty, so the problem will get fixed, but you won't know there is a problem typically until you get a $300 APS bill.

The lease is easier to qualify for and someone else owns it, therefore has to monitor it and if it underproduces, you get reimbursed. But of course with a lease, you do not own it so there will always be a payment.

Let me know if you have any general questions and Ill be happy to answer them here, or through PM.

Not sure where you come up with this but the bolded part is false. You can either go online to their website and see your production or use an app to track this. If there's a problem with your system you'll easily notice it if you see a drop off in the production grid. APS also has this feature on their site too if for some reason your solar company doesn't which I find it hard to believe they don't.




Here's a shot of mine from yesterday showing the whole days production from sun up to sun down. If there was a problem with your system you wouldn't have a perfect bell curve there would be an irregular pattern.





Here's another option I have to see that all my panels are working. If one were out that panel would be black.




This is from early this morning where you can see there's no sun hitting my panels yet so they're all black.



Last edited by AzScorpion12; 08-25-2017 at 10:00 AM..
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